MHC 200: Power of Parks Does Central Park work?

Central Park: Why it exists and what it means. Also, the Ramble.

Central Park owes its existence to numerous people and causes. Originally promoted by the emerging American landscape architecture movement, the Park gained advocates among the social elite and in 1853 the New York State Legislature authorized the usage of eminent domain to seize the land that Central Park would be built upon. The Central Park Commission was created in 1857 and they subsequently held a contest for the design of the park.

Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux’s “Greensward Plan” was the winning entry. Based upon the picturesque movement in vogue in Europe, particularly England at the time, Central Park was the first of the “deliberately designed ‘informal’ gardens” (Platt, pg.23) to be created in North America. It was a naturalistic design that stood in stark contrast with the utilitarian gridiron street plan surrounding it.

a lithograph of the original plan for central park

There were multiple motivating factors behind the creation of Central Park. From the financial perspective, the creation of the Park served to raise real state prices and make uptown property soar in value. From the health perspective, germ theory had yet to be discovered and the science of the time said that pathogens traveled by miasma; ‘hygienist’ advocates believed that a giant park would allow for greater ventilation of the city air and therefore slow, or even, stop, the spread of disease. The most publicized and promoted reason for the park’s creation (if not necessarily the main one) was an enduring belief amongst elites at the time that contact with nature would produce a civilizing effect upon society. Thus Central Park was appealing to those who feared the incoming populations and increasingly congested neighborhoods.

Made as a reaction to rapid urbanization, Central Park has not become obsolete in the face of suburbs and sprawl but has taken on a different role. Originally an escape from what was perceived as a too-crowded island, it now stands as a monument to the preservation of nature as the ‘hinterlands’ become developed and the ‘nature’ that New York City pulls resources from vanishes.

Perhaps one of the best examples of Olmstead’s picturesque vision is The Ramble, a piece of terrain varied in topography and vegetation meant to simulate a wooded area. Even by the standards of that period’s landscape planning, the ramble is intense, featuring densely planted trees and rock outcrops, an artificial stream, a pond and Belvedere castle. Meant by Olmstead to be a  ‘wild garden’ away from the main paths, the ramble today functions as the premier bird-watching area in the park.

Forest Growth. Pretty!

The Ramble has been renovated multiple times, and is currently undergoing a restoration designed to create a healthy forest floor, eradicate non-native weeds, regrade the slopes and dredge silt form the lake. Due to its existence as an artificial ecosystem, the trees in the area are not all native species and invasive species such as the Black Cherry have begun to dominate. Started in 2007, these projects are indicative of growing ecological sensitivities and a desire to work with native natural elements as opposed to replace them.

Paths traverse the ramble so visiotrs can enjoy the scenery without trampling it

photos courtesy of  (top to bottom): gothamist.com,  centralpark.com, centralpark2000.com

bibliography:

Gandy, Matthew. Concrete and Clay: Reworking Nature in New York City. Cambridge Mass. [etc.: MIT, 2003. Print.

Platt, Rutherford H. 1994. The Ecological City. From Commons to Commons: Evolving Concepts of Open Space in North American Cities.

Your Complete Guide to New York City’s Central Park | CentralPark.com. Web. 19 Sept. 2011. <http://centralpark.com>.